Imperfect
by Blanqueraq
Summary: A promise was good enough for now, Gohan supposed, because there was no way he would give this girl less than everything. He simply wasn't built that way.


_Imperfect_ (2,693)

He snuck out of the house easy enough. His mother was perhaps overly concerned and a bit of an iron fist, but Gohan was also predictable. At least to her he seemed so, becoming an adult who'd out grown the restlessness and recriminations of childhood. It didn't strike Chi-chi that perhaps he was simply a modified version of what he'd once been. A boy with more of a pause button. In some areas he supposed.

Videl left her balcony doors open when the weather was nice. She'd also taken to sleeping in the shirts Gohan left behind, somehow even more feminine in the cotton button downs and her boyish haircut than any little black dress out there. She'd look good in a paper sack, but his particular favorite was pink and naked.

He felt something burn a little inside whenever she met him dressed in his clothes. It made him feel as unapologetically barbaric as his ancestors, wanting to beat his chest and roar every time she smiled at him. He wondered sometimes, if she secretly noticed, but didn't say anything. For what reason he could never guess.

She was so beautiful. Even more so because he loved her, every annoying, endearing inch. As he smiled to himself Gohan remembered how one morning she'd attempted to cook him pancakes and scrambled eggs. The pancakes had been a toss, but the eggs had come out good enough. Though the plate was a drop in the ocean for his appetite, something he knew and she knew, although neither said, it was appreciated and forthwith understood she was no Chi-chi.

For which he was daily grateful. She'd sulked and with her aggressive eyes promised to get better, while Gohan had just smiled, stupid with love and kissed her until she'd stopped looking so put out. He didn't care if he had to cook the meals every day until they died just as long as she never stopped standing beside him.

Laying beside him and trapping him with that amazing womanly smell of shampoos and body creams. Layered right into her skin. It always seemed to give him a shock whenever these pieces of girlishness popped out, a blush about her hairstyle, a bit of lip-gloss, fancy underwear.

He really liked the fancy underwear.

She told him once that being raised by her father and a Dojo of surrogate fathers had made her almost gender neutral and it embarrassed her really to be seen as anything other than a strong and capable fighter. He'd told her, while slipping between her thighs, sliding against her moist warmth, that she was still that way to him, but…

He'd kissed her long and hard enough that both were breathing fast when they broke apart. _But_, he continued, she was still a female and should enjoy being treated as such.

She'd blushed and he'd stared at the rising pink in wonder, enchanted. He was curious sometimes, what kind of terror Videl would've been had she gleaned the same kind of feminine self-confidence Bulma oozed in spades. He was positive if that happened, he'd be dead of copious sexual activity inside a week.

Tonight, however, was for something else. He stared at her little body curled around a pillow with the same unselfconsciousness she wrapped it around him, her chest rising and falling to a steady rhythm. From his perch at the end of the bed he could hear her familiar heart beat, matching it to his own.

They were matches all right, in every way that counted.

She'd played chess with him, because he liked the game, even though she only had the most fundamental experience with it and requested instructions several times through out. He let her win the first time, dazed by her glowing smile and the way her eyes had known he'd done it on purpose.

Maybe she loved him because he'd done it on purpose, but even so Gohan had promptly decided to keep this particular game a tradition between himself and Piccolo. For obvious and not quite obvious reasons.

He fingered nervously at the tiny ring in his pocket. Smooth and simple because it was a promise above everything else and he didn't have enough to offer her the world just yet. Though he would offer it, in a heartbeat if that's what she wanted.

All because he couldn't stand waking up without her anymore - buried in her, scent in his nose. Gohan was sure that on the day her smell was gone he finally would go crazy and blow the world to kingdom come. The exact one he'd spent every waking minute trying to protect.

He suddenly realized, with a strange sort of clarity, that it had been for her. Each step he'd taken, though taken for other reasons had all led up to this girl and the world he'd saved for them both. At the same time he felt staggered by this fact, an overwhelming sense of rightness seemed to take hold of him, blazed through his blood like sunlight.

She was…everything to him.

Her husky mumbles brought his attention back from its inward journey, settled on her restless turning. The collar of his shirt had gaped down the front and slipped off her shoulder, revealing endless expanses of peachy skin that he was addicted to putting his mouth on.

She finally relaxed, supine across her navy colored sheets, when he lifted her foot and began messaging her ankle. He knew it hurt her sometimes though she refused to admit it. Gohan smiled to himself as he worked his fingers, thinking such a diminutive little thing with only a fraction of the power he held in his pinky, should not be sporting the lion's share of a warrior's spirit.

Six feet of audacity packed into five feet nothing of girl.

Watching as the ambient city light played across her features, Gohan wondered why he loved that boldness too. If, because it was part of her, he had to love it, or because her daring had brought them together in the first place, that meant he loved it regardless of anything else.

She made soft sounds of pleasure that shot up his spine like fireworks. He shook his head, still impossibly surprised she could reduce him to cinders with nothing more than a noise. He'd tangled with some of the strongest beings in the universe.

Yet Videl laid him low with a look.

Slowing his touches, Gohan recalled asking Vegeta something about that since he couldn't ask his own father. As far as the prince could tell him it had to do with their biology, something built into their genetic make-up, he didn't know, but it was tantamount to wolves or penguins and other similarly conditioned animals that gave Saiyajins such immediate certainty.

They'd been a harsh, blood-thirsty people, perhaps, but they also never strayed.

He wasn't surprised either, because Videl was wrapped around him so tightly he couldn't even think of another girl.

Sliding his hand from its safe spot on her foot and skimming it up her leg, he crawled between her thighs and stared at her. His hand drifted under the shirt, where he could slide his fingers over the silky band of her underwear, marveling at the difference in texture. She shifted and her shirt opened more.

He ached to pull it down another inch and fill his mouth with her.

Instead he just let his fingers brush slowly up and down her side, knowing it was one of her ticklish spots. He needed her awake to do this right. After all, he'd practiced in front of a mirror for hours just for this moment.

His heart roared like a freight train in his chest.

Eventually her lips began to twitch into a smile, a gentle curve he wanted desperately to kiss just so his insides would stop shaking. He didn't though, because he knew he wouldn't stop at one, or even half a dozen.

He wouldn't stop until he was buried to the hilt inside her, his name on her tongue and her flavor on his.

She stirred lightly, shying away from his hand and eyes fluttering a little. They didn't open, but he wondered over the faint pink that began spreading across her cheeks, down her neck and chest.

She still didn't wake, so Gohan increased the persistence of his touches. Finally with a slight snort of laughter, her blue eyes slid open. Warm and dark they stared at him stupidly delighted as her mouth spread into a wider smile.

Gohan's fingers stuttered and all the practicing and all the rehearsing crumbled into a million pieces, his romantic soliloquy falling back down his throat. It escaped him before he could properly put the words into context, make them sound the least bit appealing.

"Marry me." He was such a back water, socially retarded moron.

The warmth in her eyes edged into a sleepy confusion and as the minutes stretched Gohan felt his stomach endeavor to eat its self. He was an idiot, a fool and who in their right mind would say yes to a proposal like -

"Okay."

He felt all the air that backed up into his lungs rush out on a single gust. Blinking rapidly, he stared at Videl, hoping he'd heard her right.

She looked back at him shyly, but with so much love he felt his heart throb. He sighed in relief, dropping his forehead against her own. "O-okay?" he asked shakily.

She nodded. "Okay."

He gazed into her perfect blue eyes, and found himself lost. Just utterly lost, because that had been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do in his entire life, yet felt as intrinsic as breathing, as blessedly simple.

Slowly, he gave her a stupid, lopsided grin. "But not now," he murmured, "only when I can give you everything. After college, I think, so you have time to make sure you want me."

She snorted, and wrapping her arms around his neck, glared a little. Her leg curled around his hip in a way he could only call possessive, not that he minded, pulling him down into the craddle of her hips. He brushed his lips against her mouth.

"What about you mister? What if you get that PhD and decide you wanna be a plastic surgeon, dump me and marry some skinny blonde supermodel?" She winged an eyebrow.

"No," he said against her lips.

She blinked at him. "No?"

"No," chuckling, he rolled over and pulled her on top of him, burying his face into her hair. It smelled like sugar and flowers today.

Videl pushed his head away so she could study him as she spoke. "Even you have to admit that hearts change, and saying mine could, without including yours, is just arrogant," her eyes flicked away for a second, "you could want someone else too."

Solemn now, Gohan took her surprisingly strong hand from its grip on his shirt and kissed the palm, before enclosing it in his own. "I'll always want you Videl Satan. Maybe other people change their minds, but I won't."

He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. "It's sort of a one shot deal with me, beautiful. I hope that's all right with you."

He heard her breath stutter, before he felt her face press into his chest. Right above his heart.

"I don't think I could imagine," her words were muffled, "being with anyone else besides you. It's not as good a vow, but I hope its something, Gohan."

Yes, it was indeed something and he felt the warmth of it spread through his veins like wildfire. It was kind of hard to turn down the unwavering devotion of a Saiyajin, anyway.

"So do I get a ring or something?" She popped into his vision, laughing, her joke obviously intended to cheer him up. Except it had more of an opposite affect and made Gohan want to punch himself.

He dragged a hand down his face. Sitting them up he dug around in his pocket, unable to tense very much with her arms curled around his neck and fingers rubbing at his nape.

"I've done this ass backwards," grumbling, he whipped out the ring, so busy being angry at himself he forgot to censor his movements. It took a second after the jewelry was under her nose for Videl to jerk her head back. She frowned, clearly annoyed at his disregard.

Then her eyes were on the silver band engraved with minuscule design work. She had it out of his fingers before he could blink.

"I forgive you," she said, her voice so full of breathless joy, Gohan felt like leaping to his feet and shouting his claim for the whole city know. She'd already stuck the ring on her hand and was currently holding it out to admire, a silly smile on her face.

There was that girlishness again, making him feel half retarded with affection. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

He could search a million years, straight across the universe and never find another girl quite like Videl.

"I'm glad you approve," he managed through an impossibly dry throat, hands resting lightly on her hips. There was no response from Videl, as she continued to coo over the plain ring, and Gohan supposed he didn't really need one. Her smile was good enough.

Leaning forward he dropped his mouth onto her neck, kissing her with slow enjoyment. He also left a bite or two when she started making those sounds he so craved.

"I love you by the way," he murmured, finally getting around to her mouth. He swiped a lazy tongue across her bottom lip and grinned when he felt the fingers in his hair tighten. She opened her mouth to say something but Gohan took advantage instead, sliding his tongue between her lips, effectively silencing her.

Not that she was unhappy about the arrangement, considering the way her body was plastered against his.

She broke away after a moment, breathing heavy before letting her head flop against his chest. Her fingers moved distractingly beneath his shirt, tracing his taunt stomach.

He swallowed loud enough that Videl snorted at him.

"I love you too, Gohan. Somehow."

She snickered when his abdominals contracted. After feeling him up for a minute, she regretfully pulled her hands away, but quickly began working on her button down so Gohan couldn't say he was disappointed.

She caught her tongue between her teeth in an impish gesture. "Yeah, you're lucky I was feeling horny, so we can have great fiancé sex, since I hear it sorta dries up after marriage."

Gohan stared at her for a while, his eyes an ever darker shade of black. "I don't think that'll happen."

Finally undoing the last button, Videl looked up at his words, her face staining red when she saw his expression. "I-I guess it could be different for us," she stuttered, letting the sides of her shirt dangle, a long line of pale skin exposed from her delicate neck down to the black panties with a little pink bow on the front.

Gohan wanted to slide a finger behind that pink bow and drag it down so he could put his mouth there instead.

Videl started breathing heavy like she knew what he was thinking. He raised an eyebrow.

"Everything's different for us Videl, didn't you know?"

She edged the shirt off her shoulders, letting it pool around her hips. Eyes heavy and lips full, she beckoned. "Come make me believe that."

His mother always said it was wise to listen to a lady. Licking dry lips, he decided Chi-chi was right.

**Love**

Reviews are welcome, and since I've already continued into something of a lemony nature, I'm considering posting it, but I'd like feed back first. I'm unsure of my skill in the romance department, so I'd like to know if what I've written so far sounds the least bit sexy. Thanks!


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